Hispanics have a high prevalence of NIDDM. Surprisingly the risk of cardiovas-cular disease in Hispanic NIDDM is not as high as would be anticipated based upon studies in Caucasians and African-Americans. This study aims to test the hypothesis that 1) cardiovascular protective genes are prevalent in the Hispanic population and 2) a form of NIDDM which is not associated with cardiovascular disease is common in Hispanics and is genetically distinct from NIDDM that occurs in other ethnic groups.